UIS faculty member receives appointment to American Museum of Natural
History

April 4, 2006

SPRINGFIELD – Michael Lemke, associate professor of Biology at the
University of Illinois at Springfield, has received an appointment as
Research Associate in the Invertebrates Division and the Center for
Comparative Genomics at the American Museum of Natural History in New York
City. The appointment affords him the academic status of a
researcher-in-residence at the museum.

Said Lemke, “It is a real honor to be appointed as a Research Associate
at such a prestigious institute.”

In 2005, Lemke spent the spring and part of the summer at the AMNH while
on sabbatical leave from UIS. Museum curator Rob DeSalle, a colleague of
Lemke’s, noted, “During Mike’s earlier stay he was recognized as a valuable
asset to AMNH’s new focus on microbiology.” Lemke’s credentials and work at
the museum underwent faculty review there, and he received the appointment,
which runs from February 2006 to June 2008 and has an option for renewal.

At UIS, Lemke’s research and teaching focus on aquatic microbial ecology.
He was selected as a University Scholar in 2002-2003, and he is also a
founding member and director of UIS’ Emiquon Field Station, which works in
conjunction with the Nature Conservancy’s planned restoration of 7,000 acres
of Illinois River floodplain.

The American Museum of Natural History, the largest natural history
museum in the world, covers several city blocks and houses dozens of
exhibition halls, research laboratories, teaching facilities, and a research
library containing 485,000 volumes. Since the late 19th century the museum
has fielded hundreds of research expeditions. Its exhibitions currently
exploreanthropology, archaeology, astronomy,
geology, mineralogy, paleontology, and biology. AMNH employs 250 full time
scientific researchers; only 75 to 100 research associates are appointed at
any one time.

For more information, contact Lemke at 206-7339.

The University of Illinois at Springfield,
one of three U of I campuses, is a small, public liberal arts university
that
offers
42 degree programs – 21
bachelor’s, 20 master’s, and the Doctorate of Public Administration.
UIS has a special mission in public affairs and service and is known for
extraordinary internships, a wireless campus, extensive online offerings,
and a commitment to teaching.